2009: Top Ten Cheeseslave Posts

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Happy Birthday, Real Food Media!

2009 was an insanely busy year for me. Last Christmas, in 2008, I launched Real Food Media, the first and only blog network focused on traditional and slow food.

It was a year of growth and a lot of hard work. There were many weeks and months of 16-18 hour days and working every single weekend. There's still a ton of work ahead of me in the new year but I'm looking forward to taking a moment tonight to toast how far we've come this year. (I'll be toasting from the Lost Pines Resort, just outside of Austin, Texas.) Thanks to all of you guys for reading and commenting and for supporting the mission of real food!

Progress Made in 2009

We are ending the fiscal year with 25 sponsors of Real Food Media, and we have new sponsors ready to sign on in January. We also tripled our monthly advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009.

I also launched a new menu mailer subscription service called CHEESESLAVE Menus By Mail the week of Thanksgiving in 2009. Already we have 87 subscribers!

What's Coming in 2010

I have many goals and plans for the new year and am super excited about them — including launching podcasts, videos, and social media seminars. We're also expanding the Real Food Media blog network, adding new blogs (we'll be adding 5 or 6 new blogs to our current roster of 8 blogs) and new sponsors.

Needless to say, with all of this activity, I don't always get to blog as much as I'd like. But I'll be putting my energy into the menu mailer and the other projects so you'll still be hearing plenty from me. I just can't keep my mouth shut about traditional food and sustainable farms.

I've finally found my life's mission. I'm so grateful each and every day that I have the opportunity to do what I do and work with the brilliant and lovely folks who share my vision and passion.

Happy New Year to you all and thanks again for everything you do to support the movement of traditional and slow food. Cheers!

Top 10 Posts of 2009

Here's a countdown of the top ten posts of 2009 on CHEESESLAVE, from the least views to the post with the most views of the year. These are only posts written this year (not 2008 or 2007).

10. Low-Carb Bacon, Egg & Cheese Muffins – These muffins, adapted from a recipe in Bruce Fife's book, Cooking with Coconut Flour, were a hit. They're low carb, gluten- and grain-free, and full of nutrient-dense pastured eggs, bacon and cheese. How can you go wrong?

9. Top 10 Reasons To Eat Real Sourdough Bread — Even If You're Gluten Intolerant – This is the post I wrote after meeting the Sourdough King of Los Angeles, Jack Bezian, who is known for fermenting his sourdough bread for up to a month. I'm still talking to him and hopefully I can convince him to do more interviews, maybe a podcast (and ultimately I'd love to get him to teach a webinar, although right now he refuses to teach baking, he says he will teach about fermentation — a girl can dream!)

8. Homemade Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise – We love mayonnaise at our house but I simply refuse to buy the junk at the grocery store anymore because it's almost always made with soybean oil — something we can do without! This recipe, based on Julia Child's, comes out great, plus the mayo is lacto-fermented, which is good for your gut.

7. How to Make Perfect Pie Crust – I found out from a couple of readers that I had an error in this recipe, which has now been fixed. I was so grateful to them that I gave them both free year-long subscriptions to my CHEESESLAVE Menus By Mail menu mailer. I also got comments from readers saying they didn't quite get how to make the pie crust properly — so I'm planning to do a video of me making pie crust in the new year. Actually, I will be working on a series of how-to videos so stay tuned!

4. Do Bread & Cereal Cause Cavities? Reversing Dental Decay With Food – The other day, I was on the phone with Rami Nagel, author of Cure Tooth Decay. I'm planning my first ever podcast with him in January — check back for the announcement. There is such a need for this information. He told me that tooth decay is at 90-some percent in our country. It's so common that we think it's “normal”. According to this post, sugar is not good for your teeth but it's grains, nuts and seeds that are the real culprits when it comes to tooth decay.

3. Top 5 Tips For Balancing Hormones Naturally with Food – I get a ton of questions on Facebook and on Twitter from people asking how to help melasma and adrenal exhaustion with real food. This is another post that might disappear in 2010. Go read it now while you still can! :-)

Congratulations! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your hard work. I’m still learning and trying out new things, but I’ve been able to find so much great info this year and a lot of it has come directly or indirectly from your site. Keep up the great work.

Congrats on the Real Food Media network! That is so exciting! I just signed up for the updates! I know how hard it is to launch something like this on your own – having just gone through 2 years of it with The Foodie Blogroll! :) Wishing you continued success in 2010! My own blog has taken a turn towards real food this year and so I am happy to learn of more blogs that are already doing this! I am really happy to have found your blog! Happy New Year!

I really appreciate your hard work–it’s nice to know of other people who share my burden of teaching the truth about food and health.

And I’m thrilled you’re going to do a podcast with Ramie Nagel. People look at me like I have three heads when I tell them I am using nutrition to heal/prevent tooth decay. I hope a bunch of SAD eaters end up listening to that podcast!

It saddens me that you may need to take down those posts – Big Brother doesn’t like them eh? There is a lot of great information in them. I am especially interested when you talk about the thyroid – I have been hypothyroid for 14 years and it just stinks!
Thanks for all your hard work.
.-= Christy´s last blog ..Merry Christmas! =-.

AnnMarie, You Rock! Thanks so much for doing all that you do in hopes of educating more people to health and happiness! Un Besote Amiga and I’m so looking forward to being a part of the Real Food Media!!
.-= Diana@Spain in Iowa´s last blog ..Happy New Year: Top 10 Posts of 2009 =-.

Congratulations on your anniversary, Anne Marie. You have influenced so many people and your hard work is greatly appreciated. Jon and I really appreciate the time you took to give us advice on social media. I’m excited about the doors that have opened to us as a result. I see things really cooking in 2010. Best of luck for success with your menu planner.
.-= Cathy Payne´s last blog ..ONL057 OMG, We Bought the Farm! =-.

PLEASE either provide captions or subtitles with the videos or at least a transcript link for both videos and radio/podcasts. I’m deaf and I’m not going to be able to get anything from these if I’m not able to read them.

Ann Marie–you have done something truly landmark with RFM. I am so glad to be one of your founding bloggers, and can’t wait till you add many more. We appreciate all your coaching and help this year. I know that without your network and your personal advice, I would not have achieved 120,000 visitors this year on my brand new blog. Thanks a mint for your wisdom and vision.
.-= Kimberly Hartke´s last blog ..Most Googled and Oogled Blogs of 2009 =-.

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My posts may include affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link on one of my posts, I earn a small commission on the sale. I only endorse and promote companies and products I believe in. Thank you for supporting my work.